Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/200

 FRANCE.

THE ORDER OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR.

The establishment of this Order, after much discussion and opposition, arising from a feeling that it was contrary to freedom and equality, the watchword of the Revolution, was at last carried (1802) in the Legislative Body by a majority of one hundred and sixty-six to one hundred and ten.

The Legion of Honour was meant to be an institution, at once the safeguard and protection of all republican principles and regulations, of all the laws of equality, and for the abolition of all the differences of rank in society as created directly or indirectly by the nobility.

The Order was originally divided into three classes:— Legionaries, Grand Officers, and Commanders.

After the coronation of Napoleon (14th July, 1804), the first class of Grand Officers was divided into Knights of the Grand Eagle, (as the highest,) and Grand Officers. In 1810, the first class already exceeded by nineteen thousand the limits fixed by law; while in 1814, the Legion counted about thirty-seven thousand members. This vast number naturally